Sunday, May 03, 2009

I'm not too interested in recapping a fairly bleak series against the Royals. If you do want to hear more about it, stop by MNGameNight.com and listen to Seth Stohs and I try to talk each other off the ledge in last night's podcast.

Instead, how about we talk about a road trip?

At the end of June, the Twins travel to St. Louis and Kansas City, and at a blogger get-together a few weeks ago, we talked about arranging a Twins blogger road trip to watch the games. I've done quite a bit of research on this, and if we can get twenty-five people, we're in. Here's the details:

How much: $649. That's a little more expensive than I would like, so we're making sure things are done right, with first-class accommodations, great tickets, and a baseball-packed five days.

(The most expensive part of this trip is the damn tour bus. If anyone has a lead on an independent tour bus operator with a nice bus and a baseball addiction, I'd sure like to hear about it! That could bring the price down considerably.)

Overview - During the last weekend in June we take a five-day, four-night bus trip to watch the Twins play in the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis and renovated Kauffman Stadium in KC. It also includes a minor league game watching Beloit and visits to the Negro League Baseball Museum and the Field of Dreams.What it includes - Transportation, all hotels (including fantastic hotels in downtown STL and KC), great tickets to all ballgames, beer and snacks and tailgating supplies, admission to Negro League Baseball Museum.

Preliminary ItineraryFriday, June 26th10 AM - Get on the tour bus in Mpls, snack, drink and watch Field of Dreams on the way to....2:00 PM - Stop at Dyersville, Iowa, home of the Field of Dreams Movie Site. Hang out there for an hour or so and get back on the bus.5:00 PM - Stop in Clinton, Iowa to watch the Twins High-A Beloit Snappers face the Clinton Lumberkings. Before the game there is a picnic in the stadium where we get all we can eat and drink prior to the game.7:00 - Watch game9:30 or 10:00 Back on bus1:30 AM - Arrive in St. Louis at the upscale Millennium Hotel in downtown St. Louis, one block from Busch Stadium.

Saturday, June 27th12:05 - Watch the Twins play the Cardinals. We'll have lower level tickets down the right or left field line (whichever is better).The rest of the day is yours. We expect guests to generally act irresponsible.

Sunday, June 28thBefore 12:00 - Check out of the Millennium and load bus with stuff12:05 - Watch the Twins play the Cardinals. We'll have lower level tickets down the right or left field line (whichever is better).3:05 or so - Travel to Kansas City with snacks, drinks and baseball DVDs.8:05 - Arrive in KC at the Westin Crown Center Hotel in downtown Kansas City, right next to some famous historical stuff that I forget right now.The rest of the night is yours. We expect guests to generally act irresponsible.

Monday, June 29thMost of the day is yours. We expect guests to generally act irresponsible. The Crown Center is apparently a pretty nice shopping area.3:00 or so - Get on the bus and go to Kauffman stadium. We'll tailgate in the parking lot before the game.7:00 - Watch the Twins play the Royals. We'll have lower level tickets.

Tuesday, June 30thBefore 8:30 - Check out of the Westin and load bus with stuff.9:00 - Visit the Negro League Baseball Museum in KC. We'll get a small tour and time to explore12:00 - Leave KC to travel back to Mpls with snacks, drinks and baseball DVDs7:00 or so - Arrive in Mpls

That's it. I already have filled several spots filled with friends and various Twins bloggers and I need to gauge whether we can put this together within the next week or two. If you're interested, contact me at John@Bonnes.com and I'll include you on the mailing list where we'll work out the details.